Mary E. Hylton, PhD, University of Nevada, Reno, Tanya Rhodes Smith, MSW, Nancy A Humphrey's Institute for ... Schools (2016) identifies approximately 40 civic competencies. ... the decline in voting and overall engagement with electoral.
The Power of Three: Involving BSW Students in Voter Engagement Mary E. Hylton, PhD, University of Nevada, Reno, Tanya Rhodes Smith, MSW, Nancy A Humphrey’s Institute for Political Social Work, Shannon Lane Ph.D., Adelphi University, & Jason Ostrander MSW, University of Connecticut
Introduction The strategy explicated in this poster provides BSW students early in their social work education programs (e.g. freshmen and sophomores) with opportunities to engage in their communities via registering voters. The goal of the strategy is to lay a foundation of civic competence that can facilitate greater leadership and interest in civic engagement later in these students’ BSW programs. The Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools (2016) identifies approximately 40 civic competencies. While all of these competencies are important to social work practice, the strategy described in this poster, sought to help students build the following: attentiveness to civic matters, civic efficacy, communication and use of electoral processes. Given the decline in voting and overall engagement with electoral activities among younger students, nonpartisan voter engagement was selected as a means by which to help students build these competencies.
Literature Review Civic engagement is pivotal to the health of our nation’s democracy as well as to the health and well-being of communities and individuals. The National Conference on Citizenship (2011) found that communities with higher rates of civic engagement recovered faster economically after the recession. At the individual level, civic engagement can help develop habits and social networks that make people more employable. Political activism, in particular, correlates to higher reported life satisfaction, less stress and greater overall wellbeing (Klar and Kasser, 2009; Sanders, 2001). Civic engagement also plays an important role in the experiences of college and university students. Civically engaged students have higher rates of satisfaction with college, higher GPAs, higher retention rates and are more likely to complete degrees than are their less engaged peers (AACU, 2012). Despite the numerous benefits, rates of civic engagement within the United States have continued to plummet. This decline in civic engagement is directly evident in patterns of voting. Arguably one the most basic civic duties in which citizens can engage, voting has steadily declined since the 1960’s. During the 2014 interim election, only 41.9% of eligible Americans voted (US Census Bureau, 2015). Voting among younger generations has declined nearly 12% over the past five decades (Fine, 2014). This overall pattern of poor voter turnout resulted in the United States being ranked 139th out of 172 world democracies in voter participation (AACU, 2012).
Conclusions
Assignment To engage students in the civic activity of nonpartisan voter registration, the authors used a simple principle borrowed from the discipline of creative writing, e.g. the Power of Threes or the Rule of Three. This principle purports that phenomenon are more memorable and enticing when they come in threes. Students were provided a unit on voter engagement to prepare them for the assignment. They were then asked to speak with three different people about voting, including their reservations in relation to voting and their reasons for voting. To complete the assignment, students were required to bring in three completed voter registrations forms. Students were encouraged to use their developing skills in active listening and rapport building to encourage people to engage civically through voting. While the act of voting frequently involves partisan politics, registering voters and encouraging others to engage in voting was framed as a civic activity. The task put before the students was to encourage other people to engage in their communities and the greater national democracy by registering or updating their voter registrations. This distinction proved useful in helping students understand the importance of engaging others in voting while maintaining an objective stance. Students were taught that they could not ask voters about party affiliations, political leanings, candidate preferences or discuss their own partisan leanings.
While the assignment was simple, the ease of doing just “three” helped students shed the anxiety typically associated with graded civic activities. Instead, several students embraced the project going far beyond three, registering entire classes, sororities and church groups. Students learned that is was “easy” to be engaged. They also learned valuable information about voting in general. In addition to civic engagement, these early social work students reported engaging in several generalist social work skills, including basic communication skills, nonjudgmental attitudes, and dealing with resistant people. For example, these students quickly grasped the similarity between being objective in the act of registering voters and being objective and nonjudgmental when intervening directly with individuals. In conclusion, these students gained important knowledge, skills and dispositions essential to civic activity, but also beginning level generalist social work practice. Furthermore, they registered 383 community members in the process of acquiring this learning.
Results Total Involved Class Sections Educational Level Course Question
113 Students Two Sophomore Social Welfare History and Policy
Common Themes
Who Was Registered
Friends Family Coworkers Responses Received Excited Happy Surprised Feelings About Asking Challenges
Awkward at first Confident Good about helping Finding people to register Fears about asking Overcoming civic apathy
Rewards
Helping others register Others becoming engaged Becoming more politically aware
Lessons Learned
How easy it is to be involved The importance of voting Voter apathy is pervasive
383
Registrations Completed
Exemplary Quotes ”I brought the registration forms to a weekend event hosted by my sorority. I was able to register several of my sorority sisters.” “Most I asked were excited to register to vote and liked the convenience of me asking them.” “People were surprised that someone cared enough to help them register.” “Uneasy at first, but once I started I found it was quite easy.” “I felt good and felt like I was contributing to society.” “It felt like a service to the community.” “A lot of people were already registered. It was hard to find someone who needed to update their registrations.” “Actually asking people to register.” “Trying to convince people that if you want a voice in this country, you should be registered to vote.” “I got people to change their minds about voting and that was rewarding to me.” “My friends participating in the caucus because registering made them aware.” “Being civically/politically engaged is easy!” “How easy it is for me to make a difference in my community.” “People like to know they have a voice and can make a difference, especially locally.” “Better people skills.”
References Association of American Colleges and Universities, (2012). A crucible moment: College learning & democracy’s future, Retrieved from: http://www.aacu.org/civiclearning/crucible Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools (2016). Guardian of democracy: The civic mission of schools. Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics. Retrieved from http://civicmission.s3.amazonaws.com/118/f0/5/171/1/Guardian-ofDemocracy-report.pdf Klar and Kasser (2009). Some Benefits of Being an Activist: Measuring Activism and Its Role in Psychological Well-Being, Political Psychology, 30(5), 755–777. National Conference on Citizenship (2011). Civic health and unemployment: Can engagement strengthen the economy? Retrieved from http://www.ncoc.net/unemployment. Sanders, L.M. (2001, September). The Psychological Benefits of Political Participation. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, San Francisco, CA. US Census Bureau (2015). Retrieved from the United States Census Bureau https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2015/cb15-122.html
